


Check Me Out

by aralliya



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Grocery Store, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Characters will be added as they appear - Freeform, I think that is it?, M/M, Older Characters, Rating May Change, Rating May Change?, ereri
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-28
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-07-18 19:04:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7326718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aralliya/pseuds/aralliya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren works at a grocery store to save up money for his college. Levi is just trying to get some money after his divorce. Armin just wants them to date already.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Check Me Out

**Author's Note:**

> This honestly just an excuse for me to complain about stupid people from my work.  
> Hello! I haven't written anything for a while, but hopefully this short story will get me back into the swing of things. God knows how much I miss writing.  
> 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren gets a ride home and doesn't (does) think about Levi's butt.

“I’d like to speak to your manager, please.” The bleach blonde raccoon eyed girl says.

Eren smiles the fake smile he’s come to perfect for this job and turns to the old, barely working phone to call for a higher up. His eyes meet Armin’s, three tills away from him and the blond gives him a sympathetic look. (Eren knows he’s laughing at him too, good friend) When Eren smiles at him, the telltale bell noise sounds across the speakers, signalling him to begin. “Code seven till five please.” He repeats the statement twice.

He stares awkwardly at the lady while she moves to pack her groceries, hoping she can feel the power of his glare. Eren hates calling for the front end manager when there were problems. Depending on the supervisor, the situation could be solved easily, or it could be drawn out into a fight with the customer wanting to talk to someone else (who will always tell them the exact same thing as the previous person, despite the rank) until they got fed up and threaten to email the store owner, (who also, tends to always say the same thing) and vowed to never return to the store. Sometimes, if the customer was rude enough, they’d be banned from the store. That was Eren’s favourite outcome.  
The brunet could usually easily get through these situations without calling for a higher up, but there was nothing he could do when the customer themselves called for someone else to talk too.

“Is there a problem here?” A deep, velvety voice asks next to Eren in all his 5’3 glory, and suddenly Eren goes pale.  
He looks to his left and see’s Levi, the supervisor Eren despised most. His grey-blue eyes are focused on Eren when he asks, and the brunet stuffs away the thoughts that think Levi’s eyes are pretty (because obviously he doesn’t, ew).

When he moves to reply, the customer beats him to it, “The sticker on my avocados say that they’re only three dollars-” Levi reaches across Eren to put the closed sign across Eren’s till, and Eren quietly celebrates the annoyed sigh Levi breathes, “-but they’re scanning at three forty-nine. When I told this useless cashier, he refused to give it to me for free, when you're scanning code clearly states that-”

“That all prices discluding sticker prices that scan incorrectly should be given to the customer free. If there is more than one item, then they’ll receive one free and the others at the correct price. I am more than familiar with what the code is.” Levis says, staring down the girl, daring her to talk back. “So,” he begins again, grabbing the sign from Eren’s till to reopen, allowing a stream of customers to come through, “What’s your issue?”

The girl’s gone red by now and Eren smiles widely, before turning to the next customer. He knew he was right, and one thing about Levi he could always count on (no matter how much of a dick-stick he was) was that he’d stick by his side, defending him no matter the situation.

Eren loses focus on the conversation as Levi moves to the side, sharing the space with more customers. Once the rush had slowed down, Eren was able to turn his attention to the shorter man still arguing with the bleach blond lady at the end of his til.

He likes watching Levi deal with this type of customer, likes watching his face twitch in annoyance and his arms cross tightly across his chest. He also ignores the feeling that shoots through his chest when his biceps flex. He’s totally not unto that at all. (He is.)

A moment later the lady stomps her foot and walks away, pushing her cart with her and grumbling all the way. Eren laughs quietly to himself and turns to the drawers underneath the cash register, pulling out some debit receipts to sort through. He doesn’t notice when Levi comes up behind him, until his steely voice makes him freeze.

“You shouldn’t be laughing at your mistakes.”

Eren looks up to meet silver eyes, “My mistakes?”

Levi looks away and clicks his tongue, before his eyes lock onto Eren’s again, and Eren feels tiny under his gaze. “That entire argument could have been avoided.”  
“And why do you think that?”

Levi’s eyes narrow and his arms uncross the rest on his hips. “There's a sign right in front of you,” Levi points to the register in front of Eren, “That says all sticker prices are marked down today. It is your job Jaeger, to put down the prices manually.”

The brunet feels his cheeks heat in a blush, and he loses his ability to reply. The raven was right. When Eren sneaks a glance, there is a letter taped to the front of the cash register- even highlighted. He flushes a deeper shade of red. His eyes meet Levi’s again, and he realizes he can feel his ears burning now, too. “I’m sorry, sir. It won’t happen again.”

On one hand, the younger understands that it was his mistake. It’s his responsibility to take care of these situations, to keep the supervisor out of it. But on the other hand, fuck Levi. It was a small mistake and Eren knows he is the one in the wrong, but the raven didn’t need to make such a huge deal out of it.

“Pay attention to your work. I don’t need to be saving you brats every time you fuck up.” Levi turns around, and heads back towards the cash office. While he’s walking Eren definitely doesn’t think about the sway of his hips or the way his ass looked like in those jeans. Not at all, because fuck Levi. He did however find his eyes locked with Armin’s own blue eyes. They’re closed while the blond laughs at him quietly behind his hand. (Yeah, good fucking friend).

Working at the Legion Supermarket was a challenge.

* * *

Eren slams the closed sign down on his til, watching as the last customer exits the employee door- the front doors already locked. He pulls out the cleaning equipment to clear off his til for the night when he hears a rather obnoxious cough from behind his crouched position. The brunet looks up to see the raven staring down at him, his face as impassive as ever. Eren slowly rises, placing the disinfectant for the belts on the scanner, his eyes staying on Levi’s. When the shorter says nothing Eren reaches for the paper towel under his til making a mental note the empty the garbage bag out once he was headed to the break room. When his back is turned to Levi’s again, the shorter makes a small cluck with his tongue, gaining Eren’s attention again.

“How are you getting home?”

Eren blinks, “I’m walking.”

Levi nods once, before moving to walk away. “How close do you live?”

“Twenty or so minutes,” Eren says slowly, it wasn’t every day the older had any interest in his subordinates.

Without missing a beat he unlocks the cash office door. He swiftly moves through, throwing, “I’ll drive you home in 10,” over his shoulder and before leaving Eren alone to his thoughts one more time.

 

...

 

He’s waiting just outside the staff doors, unsure of whether or not he should wait for Levi to drive him home, when he could easily walk the twenty minutes. It’s only been seven minutes, so Eren decides he has three more to make up his mind. It’s slightly chilly outside, and the parking lot is almost empty. He figures it might rain by the looks of the clouds.

Eren doesn’t particularly like Levi. He’s not nice, not very understanding, and his resting bitch face was only a bit scary. He’s hard to get along with, and overall- just a dick. But  
Eren can’t lie that the other was overly attractive. His eyes had followed the sway of his hips more times than he could count, and those silver eyes were more than hypnotising.  
The shrill ring of the door scares Eren a bit, as lost in his thoughts as he was. He hears a snort from beside him, telling him Levi hadn’t missed that.

“Jumpy, brat?” He asks.

“Just thinking.”

“About?” Levi stands just a head shorter than Eren, and the brunet has a hard time believing he’s almost ten years older than him. He kicks his leg back and makes himself comfortable against the wall next to Eren, pulling a cigarette out and lighting it.

“It might rain,” Eren says, shrugging. He’s not about to tell him he’s been dreaming of his ass.

Levi takes a drag and blows the smoke in the opposite direction to where Eren stands. “It might.”

“Yeah,” Eren drones absently. He’s lost in thought again, besides the arguments of his inner voices telling him to snap back to reality.

“Something up?” Levi must have noticed how visibly lost he was; emerald eyes were wide and unfocused as he watched stormy clouds beginning to shave away at the brightness of a full moon. “Ah, you were right, it’s starting to rain.”

The brunet awakens from his daydreaming at the sound of soft rain drops hitting the concrete, as well as Levi’s cigarette burning with another drag.

It doesn't take long for the soft patter of rain to pick up into something much heavier. Levi notes this with a quiet curse before throwing his cigarette and stomping it out. “Come on,” he pulls on Eren’s elbow, and they both track through the rain with arms over their heads.

Levi is going in a general direction; towards a Mercedes and a beat up Toyota at the back of the parking lot where all employees are meant to park. Eren focuses on the bright red paint through squinted eyes, but it at a loss for words when Levi swings the truck door open.

He only observes momentarily at the chipping paint, blue underneath brown rust. Shaking his head, he follows to the passenger side and folds in, immediately overwhelmed with how close he is to the raven, and how much it smells like his blissful earthy but clean scent. He shakes his head and turns to pull the seatbelt across himself, when he hears the loud and broken sound of the trucks engine starting. Eren decides it sounds like the pod racers from Star Wars. The truck lurches forward, and then they’re on their way.

“Which way am I going?” Levi asks. He comes to a stop at the end of Legion employee parking lot they share with the fitness centre in the same plaza.

The rain mixes in with the sound of the engine and the squeak of the windshield wipers as they move back and forth in front of him. “Trost Avenue? It’s to the left here.” Eren says.

Levi nods his head and flicks the signal on, moving the beaten truck onto the road. “Trost? Isn’t that neighbourhood where all the pot addicts live?”

“Don’t worry,” Eren laughs a bit, use to the question, “I live on the safe side.” They pull up to the intersection, and the sudden stop has the door on the overhead shelf pop open, all its contents falling out and onto Eren’s lap. The brunet gives a startled, “oh!” as papers and pens rain down onto him.

Levi curses as the light turns to green, shifting gears while the truck stutters and begins to move. The wipers stutter, before picking up their pace again. “Shit, sorry about that.”

Eren laughs, “It’s alright, I can clean this up.”

There are pens and papers spread all over the floor, and Eren hopes nothing important had gotten wet from sitting on the ground and in the puddle from his wet work boots. As he begins to gather things into the glove compartment, he notices a letter tucked underneath his seat. Thinking it had also fallen from the compartment; he reaches down and pulls it out. He doesn’t mean to read the letter, but ‘divorce’ catches his attention and once he starts he can’t stop.

The letter is addressed to Levi, from his lawyer; telling him that a Mrs. Magnolia is ready to sign her final papers. His eyes hastily skim the rest of the words, catching times and phrases here and there, but his eyes are mostly caught on the date of April 26th, which was 2 months ago. When Eren finally realises that maybe it’s not his business to be looking at these papers, Levi has already moved to snatch them out of his hands.

“I’m sorry,” Eren stammers, watching as Levi crumbles the paper up and throws it into the back seat. “I didn’t mean to look.”

Levi clicks his tongue, “Whatever, brat.”

It’s quiet for a few moments, and Eren starts to notice their surroundings. They’re about to turn onto his street. There are a few street lights lit, the others long burnt out. Eren hates being down this side of the street, but as soon as they pass the small community centre he feels safe again. The houses start to look less grungy, less people loitering on the street, and no Legion shopping carts parked out on driveways.

Eren jumps when Levi speaks. “What’s your house number?”

“Four thirty one.”

There’s a slight pause, “You mean four hundred and thirty one?”

Eren rolls his eyes, “It’s the same thing.”

“It most certainly is not.” Levi says, his voice sounding offended, “What grade did you leave high school in? Two?”

Eren opens his mouth in shock. He’s not sure whether or not to be offended, or happy that awkward silence had been swept away by offensive jokes. But when he looks at the rear view mirror and see’s Levi’s smirk, he chooses the latter. “I’m about to start university thank you very much.”

“I was in university for a bit,” Levi says, his voice a tad softer. Or so Eren thinks, he isn’t quite sure how to read this man yet.

“Yeah? Why aren’t you now? Are you that old that you’ve graduated already?” Eren laughs, “How does someone with a university diploma end up working at a shitty grocery store?”

They roll into Eren’s driveway and Levi doesn’t say a word, and Eren wonders if he’s pushed too much. They sit there for a moment, and Levi shuts the truck down, it making a loud spluttering noise as it loses power. It’s only a second later before he says, “Dropped out last year, because I had to pay for that bullshit you were reading about a second ago.”

Eren looks at Levi in shock. He had no idea that the older had been married. “Last year? But the paper said two months ago.”

Levi rests his arm on the window, and the dull patter of the rain is background music to the dreary conversation they were left in, “Divorces take time, and they cost a lot of money. I chose to pay for a separation, rather than an education.”

He’s not sure what to say, just gazes at Levi as the older looks as if he’s having the most uninteresting conversation in the world. “I’m sorry,” he ends up saying, wringing his hands in his lap.

Levi meets the younger's eyes and Eren (most definitely doesn’t get slightly lost in them) stifles a gasp. There look in the raven's eyes is gone just as fast as Eren noticed it.

“I’m sorry, as well. I made you stay late when I could have easily went on till. But I made you stay so I could sit on my ass and watch you panic through the mirror.”  
Eren is speechless, and he blinks a few times, trying to find words.

First of all, fuck Levi. Fuck him for being a dick. Eren has another shift at eight in the morning and he already worked late. He’d only get around 6 hours of sleep before he’d have to wake up and be ready to go by seven-thirty in the morning. But also, ‘sit and watch?’ Eren has a feeling that he’s the type of person who enjoys watching other people suffer. (If anyone were to ask, he’d deny the thought of Levi paying him attention, good or bad, made his heart race.) Second, did Levi just apologise? Were those the words he just heard fall from those (definitely not kissable) lips? The burnet wasn’t sure if he was dreaming, but he hoped that he wasn’t. Maybe Levi wasn’t that bad of a guy after all? So what if he had a horrible personality? Maybe underneath it, he had some heart to him. When Eren opens his mouth to reply, he’s distracted by the light in the window turning on, and a shadow standing behind the curtains.

“You’d better get going,” Levi says, reaching across the younger and pressing the button to unlock Eren’s door. Eren figures with a truck like this, it wouldn’t have power locks.  
His good image of Levi is ruined when he opens his mouth next. “Don’t want your poor mommy to worry now, do we?”

Eren sputters as he opens the truck door. Seriously, just- fuck Levi.

“Goodnight, brat.” Levi says as the door swings shut on its squeaky hinges. The rain had slowed down to a small sprinkle, kissing Eren’s dry hair and clothes as he stood in the rain.

He’s still speechless as the truck roars to life again, and the raven begins to slowly back out of his uneven driveway. He’s pulled out onto the road again when Eren finally shouts,

“Night, Levi!”

A small honk is the only reply he gets before the dusty old truck drives off into the night.

* * *

The next time Eren works is a Wednesday, but Levi isn’t the supervisor for the night. Instead, it's Armin. He’d been promoted a day after Eren’s last, and today was his first shift alone without another supervisor to help him. Armin wasn’t a nervous person by nature, but he could be worried all too easily.

The store wasn’t very busy, as it usually wasn't during the day -Especially on a Wednesday- but Armin still paced the length of all the tils, waiting for a chance for him to jump in and help out if things got too busy. He’d gone into the cash office a few times, double checking whether or not the cash had been counted and the cash amount in each till was correct. The blond hadn't any more work to do; it was to dead inside the store for anyone of the employees to have work.

Eren watched the blond pace the tills, twisting his fingers in his hands before making fists, sliding them over each other again and again. He laughs quietly to himself and moves away from his til, coming to a stop a few paces away and in front of the blond. Armin doesn't seem to notice the brunet hurdle in his path, and walks right into Eren.  
A small gasp leaves the blond as he stumbles back, slipping and falling backwards. He’s saved from a horrible head injury when Eren grabs his arm, laughing at him and pulling him back on balance. Armin’s small hands fist at the ugly green shade of Eren’s uniform shirt and Eren holds the smaller with one arm around the waist, and the other on his shoulder. He’s laughing still as Armin catches his balance, looking dazed and confused.

“You have to relax, Armin,” Eren chuckles, “Nothing's going to go wrong. You know what you’re doing.”

The shorter looks up at the brunet and sighs, “it’s just a bit stressful. I told Levi I didn't think I could handle the shift alone. What if I forget to lock the safe when I leave tonight? Or I lock the keys inside the cash office so no one can get in and we don't have any money to refill the cash registers?”

Eren leans down and bumps his head against Armin’s, causing the blond to stumble back a step. He looks up to the taller with a confused face, rubbing the sore part on his forehead with the back of his hand. Eren still has his hands on the blond's shoulders, and he smiles down at him, an amused glint in his eyes.  
“You shift is almost over,” he starts, “and then Levi will be here to take over and tell you how you did. You’ve done nothing wrong yet, and even if you do mess up, it's only your first shift as a supervisor. Mistakes are okay.”

Armin blushes, his panic subsiding and his nervousness growing faint. He takes a deep breath and nods to Eren, letting the other lower his arms and return to his til with a nod. The rest of their shifts pass quickly, and soon Mikasa is on Eren’s til and he's heading to the staff room to change. He takes off the obnoxious green shirt and dress pants, changing into a loose t-shirt with a dark souls logo, and ripped jeans. Armin is already waiting for him when he gets there, but he's looks rigid tense as Levi speaks calmly to him. Armin nods his head in jerky movements whenever Levi pauses, but Eren isn’t close enough to hear what's being said.

When he's finally close enough to hear, Levi’s turning and their eyes meet, and Eren swears he sees a small smile cross the ravens face before he's gone into the cash office. He moves beside Armin, still in his work clothes and frozen. The brunet bends down to look into the others eyes, seeing the wide smile spreading across Armin's face, his worry dissipates just slightly.

“You good?”

Armin locks eyes with Eren, before moving to walk out of the employee door, the smile getting wider, “he wants to train me to be the next front end manager!”

The door shuts with the annoying ding and Eren turns to Armin, swooping him up in his arms and hugging him, “Armin! I'm so happy for you!”

Armin laughs and hugs Eren tightly around his shoulders, before batting at his arms to set him down. He tells him about the new job, the pay raise, and how excited he is to tell his grandfather the entire car ride home. When they are nearing Eren's street, Armin glances at Eren through the corner of his eyes, but Eren can’t tell what type of looks he's being given.

“So,” Armin starts as he turns onto Eren’s street, “How did you get home last night?”

There is a pause before Eren makes a humming noise in the back of his throat, glancing away from Armin and the driveway Armin is pulling into. “Got a drive.”

Armin hums as the car comes to a stop, “From who?”

The brunet finds his attention wrapped around the imaginary piece of lint on his t-shirt. “Someone from work.”

Armin nods his head and hums, a small smile on his face. “Alright, Eren.”

Eren is blushing when he leaves Armin’s car, but the moment their eyes meet through the windshield, he’s calmed. Armin drives away with a honk, and it wasn’t until later that night when the blond had texted him that the blush returned.

_tell levi i say hi next time ;)_

Eren sputters and throws his phone onto his bed, turning back to the video game and blaming the next few deaths on the controller, instead of his embarrassed state.

**Author's Note:**

> I have feelings for eremin please forgive me while I casually slip that in everywhere


End file.
